A study in the function of the trivial

Of the first twelve pages of this morning's Guardian, six are devoted to the Andrew formerly known as Prince: this seems excessive. One examines Jonathon Ross's wardrobe in The Celebrity Traitors, which feels like an appropriate counterpoint. Two more are a double page advertisement. Clearly nothing of any importance is going on in the world.

I should, in theory, welcome the public declaration that being the son of the late monarch does not make you in any way special, and that all your honours can be removed at a stroke of the pen. Splendid! More of this, please! But this has been going on for two hundred years already, and it gets tedious.

I am earwormed by the verse:

Most Gracious Queen, we thee implore
Go away, and sin no more.
But if the effort prove too great
Go away at any rate.

Searching for a solid attribution for this, I found what looks like a really interesting and entirely relevant article which I have barely had time to skim-read, and from which I stole the title of this post.